U.S. helps allies battle cyberattacks

Sunday

Jun 9, 2013 at 12:01 AMJun 9, 2013 at 12:46 PM

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration has begun helping Middle Eastern allies build up their defenses against Iran's growing arsenal of cyberweapons, and will be doing the same in Asia to contain computer-network attacks from North Korea, according to senior U.S. officials.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has begun helping Middle Eastern allies build up their defenses against Iran’s growing arsenal of cyberweapons, and will be doing the same in Asia to contain computer-network attacks from North Korea, according to senior U.S. officials.

The officials would not say which countries in the Persian Gulf have signed up for help in countering Iran’s computer abilities.However, the list, some officials say, includes the nations that have been the most active in tracking Iranian arms shipments, intercepting them in ports and providing intelligence to the United States about Iranian actions. The three most active in that arena are Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

In Asia, the countries most worried about being struck by North Korean computer attacks are South Korea and Japan.

The Defense Department’s assertive new effort in the Persian Gulf and Asia is the latest example of how the Obama administration is increasingly tailoring its national-security efforts for a new era of digital conflict, in this case assuring the defense of computer networks and, if necessary, striking back against assaults.

A directive signed by the president that surfaced on Friday — the third in a series of leaked documents published by the newspapers The Guardian and The Washington Post — underscored how the Obama administration is trying to prepare itself and its allies. The leaks also revealed how the Obama administration has put in place a large Internet surveillance operation to identify terrorism threats. The presidential directive included the declaration that the United States reserved the right to take “anticipatory action” against “ imminent threats,” a reference, it seemed, to the kind of crippling infrastructure attacks that Iran appears to be working on against U.S. and allied targets.

The new help for strengthening computer-network defenses for allies closely parallels earlier efforts by the Obama administration in the two volatile parts of the world. But deterring cyberattacks is a far more complex problem, and U.S. officials concede that this effort is an experiment.It has been propelled by two high-profile attacks in the past year. One was against Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s largest, state-run oil producer, and according to U.S. officials it was carried out by Iran. An attack on South Korea’s banking and media companies this spring was attributed to North Korea.

“The Iranian attack on the Saudis was a real wake-up call in the region,” said one senior administration official, who would not speak on the record. “It made everyone realize that while the Iranians might think twice about launching a missile attack in the region, they see cyber as a potent way to lash out in response to sanctions.”